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Salas, Diana <br />From: <br />BJ Williams <bkwJ24@hotmail.com> <br />Sent: <br />Tuesday, June 02, 2020 12:47 PM <br />To: <br />eComment <br />Subject: <br />June 2, 2020 - Agenda Item 65B <br />Dear Mayor Pulido and City Council, <br />My name is Byron Williams and I am writing to oppose the proposed budget to increase public safety spending by $13.5 <br />million. As I am sure you know, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused financial obstacles for the city of Santa Ana. <br />According to Finance Director Downs, Santa Ana is experiencing $12 million in losses this year alone due to hits to sales <br />taxes, parking fines, special collected fees and other sources of revenue. <br />In these challenging times, what our city needs is funding for health care, education, public transport, mental health <br />resources-- not the police department. Our predominantly low-income city has been hit hard by the pandemic. Lack of <br />access to health care and packed housing has resulted in Santa Ana having the largest rate of COVID-19 in Orange <br />County. At this time, it is important that we fund community resources and stop the overcriminalization of this city. <br />Thank you, <br />Byron Williams <br />